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saveferris's comments:
on Bagby Hot Springs
Malcolm Hamilton, recreation manager for Mt. Hood National Forest can be contacted in the various ways:
phone#: 503-668-1792;
address: Mt. Hood National Forest 16400 Champion WaySandy, Oregon 97055;
email: mhhamilton@fs.fed.us
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Bagby Hot Springs
A non-profit would definitely be much more appropriate than the current proposal. Excellent suggestion!
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Bagby Hot Springs
Based on Mr. Hamilton's statements of the Bagby Hot Springs facilities, I doubt he has even been up there himself as he obviously knows little about the culture at Bagby nor Oregonian culture in general. The users of Bagby know what to expect when they hike up there and this does not seem to deter visitors in anyway. The site is packed in the spring and summer months during the day and the nights are just magical. There is history there that dates back to the native settlers of this region. Furthermore the fact that our government is trying to push this through without public consent is disturbing.
What Bagby does have for potential revenue is the cabins which have the potential to be rented and used as revenue for facility upkeep. Why is this not proposed for Cabins should be rented at the closest ranger station, keys picked up there thus keeping overhead low? Ultimately there is not a huge amount of $$ that needs to be spent on up-keeping the place. Fixing leaking wood tubs and replacing PVC pipe is not expensive. There are volunteers who are willing to do this; a volunteer made those tubs after all. There are no expensive mechanisms to replace; there is neither automation nor metering at the site to drive up maintenance costs. In hiring a private company, which will have the goal of maximizing profits to support their private entity, the cost to the state can only increase and this extra cost will fall on the public's head, as always, since the state is comprised of the public. The PUBLIC needs to have a say in this kind of change. It is extremely wrong for the forest service to try to push this change through without public support especially because Bagby has well organized volunteer support maintaining the site and a strong history of being a place frequented by all members of the public without being hindered by economic status.
SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? THE SQEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE; LET US SCREECH LOUD AND HARD TO SAVE THIS UNIQUE AND PRICELESS PLACE AND TRUE PUBLIC ACCESS TO IT.
This is the humble opinion of one Renewable Energy Engineering senior and Bagby advocate at the Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland.
With loving concern,
Jennifer Ferris
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Bagby Hot Springs
PART I:
PEOPLE: WE ARE THE PUBLIC AND WE DO COLLECTIVELY HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE THE GOVERNMENT BEHAVE AS WE WANT IT TO BECAUSE WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT. GET ORGANIZED, LET US USE OUR VOICE TO ENACT THE CHANGE (OR RATHER NON-CHANGE) WE WANT TO SEE. NOTHING HAS HAPPENED YET.
Mr. Hamilton's argument that currently there are private companies managing public sites around the states stretches thin with his example of Timberline Lodge. What you see at Timberline in a division in class. It is expensive to ski/board. It is expensive to stay overnight in the lodge. Only a certain class of people can afford to do this. Same as Hoodoo and all other organized recreation on the mountain. This type of recreation is neither affordable nor appealing to all. These are expensive facilities to upkeep and they are not good examples to use when trying to argue for privatization of Bagby, a simply constructed recreation site lacking in what makes the resort and winter sport recreation sites expensive to maintain. Granted these places are all located in the forest, but that is the only thing they have in common with Bagby.
Oregon has history of being a state that does not recognize differences in class which is what makes our state so wonderful and different than other states in the Republic. Privatizing our public land starts to put in place class divisions becuase it limits who can access the land based on financial resources. It is disturbing that Mr. Hamilton doesn’t have any true figures of how fees or provisions will change and admits there has been no exploration in that financial arena yet. He simply pulled the old political trick of blowing verbal smoke and projecting personal beliefs as fact during his brief time on air where he didn’t even have to answer any hard hitting questions. Bagby is a historically loved site with many supporters who show their love by volunteering to keep the site clean and deter vandalism and violence. Even a private company would not be able to do better without having 24 hour presence. That presence would cost. I am wondering how the forest service expects fees for Bagby and the other unnamed sites proposed to be managed to stay truly reasonable for the public when Mr. Hamilton has stated they have no estimates of the cost of employing a private company. How can the government be proceeding with a plan when they have no research done on the cost of this change?
(con't on next feed...)
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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